The present disclosure relates generally to the field of safety belts. More specifically, the disclosure relates to a safety seatbelt system for a bench-type seat that includes an adjustable turning loop to accommodate occupants of different sizes. The adjustable turning loop includes an integrated and continuous folding cover to conceal the structural components of the adjustable turning loop.
School buses are designed using a theory of compartmentalization, or closely-spaced, well-padded seats with energy-absorbing seatbacks. “Compartmentalization” provides protection for the passengers of the bus in a frontal impact or a rear impact. However, seatbelts are desirable to reduce the likelihood and severity of injuries, both fatal and non-fatal, to bus passengers in side impact or rollover accidents. Studies show that simple two-point seatbelts are more likely to cause head and/or neck injuries to occupants in a bus that only meets the “compartmentalization” standard. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide three-point seatbelt systems to protect the passengers of the bus in side impact or rollover accidents. Many states have, or are considering, laws that require buses, including school buses, to have lap and/or shoulder seatbelts.
People of a wide variety of sizes currently ride in buses today, including school buses, and both children and adults may be transported in the same vehicle. Buses generally include bench-type seats for passengers. With currently available designs, equipping buses with three-point seatbelt systems reduces the seating capacity from three persons in a seat to two persons in a seat. This can place a burden on bus operators because of the increase in the number of buses that may be needed to offset a reduction in bus capacity. Additionally, there is a need to be able to adjust the three-point seatbelt to accommodate an adult and a child. Devices such as “comfort clips” or other non-structural webbing routing devices are known to adjust a three-point seatbelt so that the belt will comfortably fit a child. These non-structural webbing routing devices may not be able to withstand the forces applied to the belt in an impact and fail, or slide along the webbing, which allows the webbing to shift into a less safe position across the head or neck of smaller occupants. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a seatbelt system that adjusts to occupant size through the use of a structural adjustable anchorage instead of having a fixed anchorage configured for an adult.